An early effort on Sinister Dexter reveals an inherent penchant forexpressive emotions and an overriding subtext of fear.Words by Dan Abnett

Notable character creations:

Jack Point

Miss Anne Thropé (you gotta say it to see it)

How to use dead space.Words by Si Spurrier

Notable characteristics:

The man uses lots of
ink, carefully. Sure, that’s a facile definition of a lot of artists, but
somehow Irving
really forces you to see the decisions he’s made about where to put his ink on
the page. Lines everywhere, often not straight. Large patches of dark, mixed
with large patches of white. Prioritising mood and emotion over realism.
Backgrounds made of textures rather than objects. Bringing fear, sadness and
pain to life. Somehow managing to
lace the same sort of imagery with comedy when the script demands it, but not
when it doesn’t.

Has Anderson ever looked so sad?Words by John Wagner

Irving's nmae is on that long list of artists who will draw Judge Dredd's helemt just how he likes it, and not like anyone else goddamit.Words by John Wagner

Another visual metaphor for you.Words by Gordon Rennie

On Frazer:

Frazer Irving burned
brightly but all too briefly in the Prog and Meg. He appeared, seemingly out of
nowhere, with a super-distinct style that really shook up readers (well me,
anyway), reminding us that 2000AD continues to be THE comic to go to for
exciting new creators. His style caught on so quick he was as regular a feature
as any artist for about four years, first in the Prog, then moving over to the
Meg.

It's a rare future shock that merits a cover spot

Irving in the making - you can see his signature style just waiting to burst out.Lines yes, cross hatching, no.Words by John Wagner

Very evidently suited
to horror, he graduated pretty quickly from Future Shocks and a single Dredd
tale onto horror-themed romp Necronauts.
Which isn’t actually a horror story in itself, although it has plenty of horror
trappings that Irving
ably brings out.

Conveying horror and paranioa through wavy lines. Who needs background detail when you can use abstraction to create tone?Words by Gordon Rennie

A Love Like Blood, similarly, uses classic tropes from the world
of horror (werewolves, vampires and forbidden love), but dresses them up as an
action story.

...and howling werewolves.Words by John Smith

Angry vampires...

It’s perhaps telling that this full colour strip didn’t hit quite
as hard as the black-and-white Necronauts
had done. Sure, you need colour to really drive home the red red gore, but
overall it lacked the same atmosphere. Or maybe I just have a fondness for
cricket bats as weapons.

Thick, overbearing
black-and-white atmosphere hit in abundance with Judge Death. My Name is Death,
in particular, is generally regarded as the first time the character has been
played more for horror than laughs since his very first appearance.*

Wavy lines again. Thicker this time, for more horror.Words by John Wagner

The Judge Death heart squeeze - never not terrifying.Words by John Wagner.

Wilderness Days was back to straight up comedy, really,
although Irving’s
art means that one is often reminded just how horrifying the character can be.

Death comes on a quad bike.

That trademark creepy
atmosphere also hit home in two much-hyped Terror Tales, Reefer Madness and Mars Needs
Mates. Both were in colour, but, crucially, limited palettes (one overriding colour with occasional splashes of another) that proved to be exactly right for evoking
dread, comedy and a massive dose of irreverence for the source material (both
were derived from 1950s B movies that are remembered more for their
ludicrousness than for being any good).

The sickly yellow fo the addict gives way to the raging pink of the infected.Words by Gordon Rennie.Also, drugs are bad.

Genre-wise, you could
say that Irving
had a go at a bit of everything in his time with Tharg. It’s comedy more often
than not – as shown above and never far from any 2000 AD strip, really - but
when it’s not at all funny you get the sombre tone and downright nastiness of Button Man IV, ultra-serious character
horror with From Grace, or indeed the
way-out weirdness of Storming Heaven.

Storming Heaven, which actually hit the Prog before Irving’s first Judge Death series, showed off the man’s
experimental side. It was as if he’d seen the colours on Love Like Blood come across decidedly average, and resolved to try using
colours for a different purpose. Once again, it’s about atmosphere.

How does he get that white to be so very white?Words by Gordon Rennie

Storming Heaven is deliriously shiny and vibrant. It’s sort of
limited-palette plus, with mostly one set of hues, but then bursts of gold and
yellow and all sorts. The whites, especially, stick out.

As with a lot of Irving’s work, there
super-expressive emotion on show everywhere. Often this is in the form of
either extreme sadism or extreme terror/despair. A mood that works better on
some stories than others, if I’m honest. Yes to straight up fun like Necronauts or straight up horror like From Grace, not so much to things that
get caught in between. But always unique, and it’s a style I am massively
partial too. And it’s good to be experimental.

Angry mob; driving rain.Words by Si Spurrier.

Look at those two faces: pure hatred meets final terror.Word by Si Spurrier

I would argue that Irving’s final series for
Tharg, Button Man IV, saw the artist
perhaps reining himself in a bit, no doubt out of respect for series creator
Arthur Ranson. Their style couldn’t be more different, but Irving’s work is a bit straighter, moodier
rather than outright gaudy with atmosphere, and painted colours that are a
little more real. There’s still plenty of trademark sadism and terror, as you
would expect from Button Man.

Irving's Ransom: Realism that isn't real.

So far, I’ve not
mentioned the man’s signature series, the one that will likely be remembered
and revived the longest – The Simping
Detective. And certainly it his I think his most accomplished work, hitting
a fantastic mix of comedy, weirdness, atmosphere, character and
experimentation. Although if I’m honest I’m more likely to turn to his really
early work to get that fondly-remembered hit of ‘gosh, this is bloody good
isn’t it’.

Full colour; still noir

It’s also when his
work actively got more three-dimensional. Something about his inking/painting
that fleshes out his characters more. Technically this series began as a
one-off story for ‘Mega City Noir’, so of course it’s all wrapped up in
1940s/50s Hollywood detective style. Which is to say, lots of black and white,
lots of venetian blinds, femmes fatales and the feeling that everything is soaked in bourbon
(not least our hero).

Not many artists could get away with that costume designWords by Si Spurrier

It’s a right treat,
although I would say that Spurrier’s authorial voice comes on so strong that of
all Irving’s
work it’s the one I least notice his hand in, even though his style is as
potent as ever. Of course, in comics part of the trick is not to be noticed,
and just to let the story play out in front of the reader’s eyes.

I imagine in the years
since he’s moved on, Irving’s
style has developed in ten different directions – I’d love to see him in the
Prog again showing us what he’s learned.

*You could argue that
Bolland’s relatively serious art keeps ‘Judge Death Lives’ in horror territory;
Necropolis too isn’t exactly funny, but it’s much more of an action story than
it is a horror one, especially the Death/Fear/Fire/Mortis bits.